World of Warcraft lost another 300,000 Subscribers last quarter, Patch 4.3 this year
Activision Blizzard latest earning call revealed that World of Warcraft lost another 300,000 subscribers last quarter, following the loss of 600k subscribers announced last quarter.

In this conference call we also learned that:

The next patch will include "major raid and dungeon content", we can most likely expect a raid and a 5-man from Patch 4.3

Patch 4.3 will be the "largest content update since Cataclysm"

It will be released later this year, which means that we can probably expect a PTR soon.

It's also worth noting that despite the loss of players, Mike Morhaime pointed out that the new trial system resulted in an increase in new account creations. For more details on the earning call, go check the coverage on sites such as Venturebeat or Gamasutra.

BlizzCon 2011 Virtual Ticket Now On Sale
The Blizzcon virtual ticket is now available, it seems that some people already got their Murkablo Companion Pet by buying the ticket early. (See this forum thread. However, this is most likely a bug and pets might be removed very soon.

Want to experience the panel discussions, tournaments, game-related announcements, and all the excitement of BlizzCon 2011 from the comfort of your own home? Then be sure to check out the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket!

The BlizzCon 2011 Virtual Ticket is now available for purchase around the world for $39.99 USD (pricing may vary by region). Virtual Ticket coverage will be available as a multi-channel Internet stream and also via Pay Per View on DIRECTV in the United States, granting viewers a front-row seat to all of the action on the show floor including exclusive interviews, demos, and more!

New DIRECTV subscribers in the United States who sign up for DIRECTV service between now and September 25 through www.directv.com/blizzcon will receive this year's BlizzCon Virtual Ticket coverage for free. Existing DIRECTV customers will be able to purchase the event on DIRECTV Pay Per View for $39.99 beginning Monday, October 10. Visit www.directv.com/blizzcon for more info.

DIRECTV customers who order the Pay Per View event through DIRECTV will receive the multi-channel Internet stream at no extra charge, and those who order the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket will also receive this year’s to-be-announced BlizzCon-exclusive World of Warcraft and StarCraft II in-game items.

Don't miss out! To learn more about the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket, head on over to our official BlizzCon 2011 Live Stream page or read the FAQ.

Cenarion Hatchling Raises More Than $1.9 Million for Japan Earthquake Relief

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of World of Warcraft players around the world who purchased the Cenarion Hatchling pet, we’ve raised a total of more than $1.9 million USD to support the ongoing earthquake and tsunami relief efforts in Japan. In May, we announced that for every Cenarion Hatchling purchased by July 31, 2011, 100% of the $10 USD adoption fee would be going to assist victims of this disaster -- and the community responded by opening up their hearts and wallets wide. Thanks again for your support and for helping to make an impact on the lives of those affected by these events.

The beta test approaches! We’ve just updated our System Check program and would like everyone to update their Battle.net Beta Profile information by running the new one. You should do this regardless of whether there have been hardware changes made to your system.

You can run the new System Check by visiting the Beta Profile settings of your Battle.net account:

I don’t have a Beta Profile
If you haven’t yet created a Beta Profile on your Battle.net account you’ll be presented with two download options, PC and Mac, for our System Check program. Running the program will present you with the Beta Test Opt-In Agreement, and once you agree to that it will immediately query basic computer specification information such as your type of video card, processor, and RAM. Clicking the Send button will then upload the shown information to your account.

On your Beta Profile page, you’ll want to ensure you at least have “Diablo Universe” checked for future testing, if not StarCraft and Warcraft as well. That’s it! You’re now eligible for future beta test opportunities.

I have a Beta Profile
If you’ve previously uploaded your system info you should use the links to download the new System Check program for PC or Mac and update your system info. Run the program, read through the Beta Test Opt-In Agreement that appears, and once you agree to that the program will immediately query your basic computer specification information. Click Send and the program will automatically update your profile with your system specifications. You’ll remain opted in for whichever beta tests you’ve previously selected, and you can change these selections on your Beta Profile page at any time.

Having current system specifications and checking the franchise boxes to express interest in beta testing our future products does not guarantee your entry into the beta test. We will grant a very limited number of people entry from the entire pool of those interested, based on their system specifications and other factors. While having an official Battle.net Beta Profile is one way to potentially get in, we’ll have information on other ways to increase your chances as we draw closer to the beta test.

Blue Posts

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Lack of Blue Posts / "Where are the Blues?"
The whole team is here today. We're actively reading the forums whenever we can while working on other tasks. :)(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Repair costs too expensive?
Repair costs have always scaled with item level. If anything, I'd say this game has a burden of too much gold out in the economy, rather than too little. 4 deaths in 1 5-player Heroic dungeon run is well above what you should expect as an average, and 100 gold is pretty easy to come by at level 85. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

New Warcraft Fan Art
The Blizzard Fan Art Section has been updated with five new pieces of fan artwork set within the Warcraft universe.

"The Raid" Livestream on August 6th @ 6:00PM PSTBlue Loon Films, the studio behind the upcoming World of Warcraft documentary, The Raid, has announced that the live stream of their film will take place on August 6th.

The Raid follows a guild over the course of a few months and features a host of content including in-game and at-home interviews with the players.

So subscribers are leaving the game because there is poor content? because its getting "remaked" (omg ragnaros again)?? WRONG!!!! People are leaving because of guilds like paragon and all of those, and why? well its obvious, during TBC, there wasn't that OMG WORLD FIRST thing... and since woltk when they introduced the achievments ofc ppl lost a bit of they'r morale, what is the point in playing when the "top" guilds do everything in 1 week? ... That's it, there is NO point in playing the game, let the tops play, they can clear a full expansion pack in 1 or 2 weeks so just leave them ... i wont be suprised to see another 300k lost subscribers in the following days ... About patch 4.3 WTF is with that deathwing ideia? They "just" released cataclysm and u want deathwing already ... go ahead more 1M lost subscribers for that Others say, remake of AQ ... Seriously? what for ? to lose more subribers? If blizzard dont want this to happen i realy think they should introduce a boss that we never heard of, something BIG! and something SO FUCKING HARD that "top guilds" take at least 2 or 3 months to clear it, so we dont lose morale once again. About casuals, i have been thinking alot why u QQ so much about not being able to get "shiny's", are u guys even serious? u can get almost full t11 with just a few ZG/ZA, with the JP its UBER EASY, each week u get 980 VP, u can get t12 in a pair of weeks, seriously, ppl relay need to think before they make stupid reply's and come up with "deathwing on next patch" ideias

So dumb, to make such a pointless comment for the sole purpose of bragging about yourself because you stopped playing and that makes you "smart".

So dumb, that you now have more free time from not playing WoW and yet, you spend that time prancing on your high horse on a WoW site.

So very dumb.

I must have made you really mad with the stuff i wrote

---------- Post added 2011-08-04 at 08:45 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Raniela

So subscribers are leaving the game because there is poor content? because its getting "remaked" (omg ragnaros again)?? WRONG!!!! People are leaving because of guilds like paragon and all of those, and why? well its obvious, during TBC, there wasn't that OMG WORLD FIRST thing... and since woltk when they introduced the achievments ofc ppl lost a bit of they'r morale, what is the point in playing when the "top" guilds do everything in 1 week? ... That's it, there is NO point in playing the game, let the tops play, they can clear a full expansion pack in 1 or 2 weeks so just leave them ... i wont be suprised to see another 300k lost subscribers in the following days ... About patch 4.3 WTF is with that deathwing ideia? They "just" released cataclysm and u want deathwing already ... go ahead more 1M lost subscribers for that Others say, remake of AQ ... Seriously? what for ? to lose more subribers? If blizzard dont want this to happen i realy think they should introduce a boss that we never heard of, something BIG! and something SO FUCKING HARD that "top guilds" take at least 2 or 3 months to clear it, so we dont lose morale once again. About casuals, i have been thinking alot why u QQ so much about not being able to get "shiny's", are u guys even serious? u can get almost full t11 with just a few ZG/ZA, with the JP its UBER EASY, each week u get 980 VP, u can get t12 in a pair of weeks, seriously, ppl relay need to think before they make stupid reply's and come up with "deathwing on next patch" ideias

300k Loss total? That my friends, Aint nothing.For me, I see even more people then before. Small realms migth be boring, yes, and that will make some quit. But if you play on a crowded realm, you might not even noticed the loss of players.There is like.....200 realms or smt? That would be 1500x accounts not unsubscribed on each realm in general.

You need to look at the big picure. BetweenCataclysm and 4.1, WoW lost 600K subs. Between 4.1 and 4.2, they lost another 300K. That means 900,000 subs have gone *poof* since Cataclysm. Are you honestly telling me that almost a million subs is "nothing?"

As a raider, we had to wait seven and a half months for raid content. After months of nothing to do, I quit. When Firelands came out, I was on holiday, so was going to see how firelands panned out while I was away. My guild cleared normals in the first 2 weeks, and that was enough for me to NOT resubscribe.

I didnt expect them to attrackt even more players, but still 11 million players left, still amazing for a game thats 6 years old.1 million players gone with such an massive ammount of mmorpg on the market these days doesnt suprise me at all.

1) Personal achievements players used to work towards can now either be completed within a few weeks (lol heirlooms) , or such accomplishments can be completely negated by the next major content patch. (so i herd u leik nerfed content)

2) No incentive for servers to build their own communities anymore thanks to cross-server BGs/dungeon finder/realID dungeon finder. In result, players generally do not invest in enriching their server community, and it becomes no different from the other 240 servers that exist. (Though there are some exceptions to the rule)

3) Nothing new to look forward to. Much of the content this expansion is old stuff that has been given a fresh coat of paint and some polish. While I appreciate Blizzard updating the old world and its lore, I was less than impressed with the re-release of the troll dungeons. Not that I was impressed with them re-releasing Naxx in WotLK. People want new things. We like exploration. We like the unknown. We don't want re-releases of old content.

And while we're on the subject of stuff that shouldn't be done, do not want another ToGC. Don't ever do that again.

A lot of people get frustrated when they try to explain something simple and the person is just too dense to figure it out.

I gave a reasonable answere, on why you were wrong with your point in my first reply, to you about news value and so on. And I am pretty sure that most of the population on the planet agrees with me on that matter, because that wasn't something i made up. It is also a huge field of sience within the academic world on that matter, that would back my statement. You just didn't read what i replied. Or maybe you did, but then you didn't understand me and you know, thats not my problem.

300k Loss total? That my friends, Aint nothing.For me, I see even more people then before. Small realms migth be boring, yes, and that will make some quit. But if you play on a crowded realm, you might not even noticed the loss of players.There is like.....200 realms or smt? That would be 1500x accounts not unsubscribed on each realm in general.

It's nothing for you, but for Blizzard 900k out of 13M is something like 7% less players in 6 months.
Assuming you have a job, would you be happy if your pay would be reduced by 7% every 6 months? Still nothing for you?

And you'd be utterly gimping yourself if you chose to use that complete set over the 359 tier you'd earn while completing the troll set.

Also, lets just sweep under the rug that all that armor is identical to the level 70 raid version. It's not a new armor set, its old models with inferior numbers slapped on it.

Why would you be gimping yourself?? If you don´t raid at all, why do you need 359 ilvl gear. Are you just bad and want to faceroll/mass AOE dungeons down in 10 min like the end of wotlk? It just seems you are whining because you don´t want to do the work required to get the gear you want. In BC tier sets were all tokens and not farmable like they are now. Raiding gear requires you to raid, do the work or stop whining if you don´t want to do it.

Originally Posted by Yetzirah

It's nothing for you, but for Blizzard 900k out of 13M is something like 7% less players in 6 months.
Assuming you have a job, would you be happy if your pay would be reduced by 7% every 6 months? Still nothing for you?

If I recall correctly, the numbers are more like 12M - 900k = 11.1M, so actually the number is greater than 7%

Nothing lasts forever, believe it or not the day will come where WoW will be pulled offline and cease to exist. WoW is slipping from Blizzard's hands, some of this is their own fault though with rehashed content, bad game balance (PvP/Arena), a severely outdated graphics engine (badly optimized, looks terrible)

Yes i know that it was, but was it like these days? that a whole expansion gets cleared in 1 week or 2? ofc it wasn't, stuff was hard back then, and now its easy, ,at my point of veiew firelands has the most obvious and comon sence mechanic boss fights ever, even ragnaros hc is piss easy, "omg sulfuron smash,, move 2 yards to the sides, OMG ADDS... Wait, what adds? oh ... hunters one shotted them" (yes hunters are op now), is that hard? well, yes for healers only. they have all the job today

---------- Post added 2011-08-04 at 10:16 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Bahska

Its not about the e-peen its about the sense of competition.

Where is the "sence of competition" when only 5 guilds or so complete everything asap?
Basicly u are saying that the game is made only for those 5 guilds

The race for world firsts were hardly as major as it is now. For long time there was like 2-3 major guilds to compete of them.. What was it again? Sk gaming and nihlium and method? Those were the "zomg famous" people.

Now we got: Ensidia, stars, paragon, vodka, method, for the horde, blood legion.. well just go look at wowprogress who have 7/7 - those people have fans and they are involved and all that.. back in BC it seemed bit more of battle of 3s now its "10 possible guilds who can get it" so its more major as the scene has raised majorly